Every human being has at some point felt the need to be rescued from something greater than their own strength. The Bible answers that need with a person who received many names: Immanuel, God with us; Christ, the Anointed One, or Messiah; Son of God; Son of Man; Lamb of God; the Word; Lord. All of them point to the same person, Jesus of Nazareth.
He was born in Bethlehem, a city prophesied centuries before (Micah 5:2), to a young virgin named Mary, by the work of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). He grew up in Nazareth, a small and undistinguished village, as the adopted son of the carpenter Joseph.
Around the age of thirty, he was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, and the Father declared from heaven his approval of the Son (Matthew 3:17). He then faced temptation in the wilderness and stood firm where so many before him had given in.
He gathered twelve disciples and spent about three years teaching about the Kingdom of God, healing the sick, feeding crowds, and restoring life to those who had already died. His words carried an authority no one had seen before (Mark 1:27).
Religious opposition grew as he confronted the leaders’ formalism and welcomed sinners to the table. In his final week in Jerusalem, he instituted the Supper with his disciples, was betrayed by one of them, and was handed over to crucifixion, where he bore upon himself the sin of the world (1 Peter 2:24).
On the third day, he rose again, proving before witnesses that death did not have the last word (1 Corinthians 15:4). Before ascending to heaven, he commissioned his followers to carry this news to all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).
The life of Jesus answers the deepest question of the human heart: is there someone willing to pay the price of our guilt? The cross shows that there is, and the empty tomb shows that this someone conquered even death, a truth that still changes lives among every people on earth.
